Ted Mosby
|birthday = April 25, 1978 |residence = The Apartment (Season 1-7) Ted's Second apartment (Season 7 - present) |job = Architect, Professor |romances = see List of Ted's romances The Mother (future wife), Victoria (ex-girlfriend) Zoey Pierson (ex-girlfriend) Stella Zinman (ex-fiancée) Robin Scherbatsky (ex-girlfriend) }} In 2030, Theodore Evelyn "Ted" Mosby sat down to tell his kids the story of "How I Met Your Mother." Beginning in 2005, Ted's meandering journey has taken him through many failed relationships, including being left at the altar. But the architect-turned-professor isn't giving up on his search for the perfect woman. She's out there, and each episode of Ted's life brings him a step closer to meeting her. Character Background Early Adulthood Ted, the central character of the show, is from Shaker Heights, Ohio, and is a Wesleyan University graduate and an architect who, according to Barney, thinks too much. When his best friend Marshall gets engaged, and he realizes his life is moving slow so Ted decides to try and find his soulmate. Ted comes from Shaker Heights, Ohio (in real life, Josh Radnor grew up in the Columbus, Ohio area and writer Carter Bays is from Shaker Heights). He was seen cheering for the Cleveland Indians when they were playing the Yankees at a baseball game in the episode and also alluded to once being trapped under a fake rock at a mall in Ohio when he was 9 in the episode . He also wears a Cleveland Indians t-shirt in . Though Ted lost his virginity in 1995 to Molly, it is revealed in that during his high school years and periodically during college, Ted dated his long-term girlfriend Karen. He and Marshall were randomly assigned as freshman year roommates at Wesleyan but became friends on a long road trip that was deemed both "Fieroasco" (by Marshall) and the "100k Fiasco" (by Ted). This story was told in . Ted graduated from Wesleyan with Marshall in 2000 as implied in the episode . For a while, Ted claimed to be "vomit-free since '93," meaning he had not vomited for any reason since 1993. However, in the episode , he reveals that this is not true, and that he vomited on Robin's door mat. He knows sign language (presumably American Sign Language) as well as French, Spanish and Italian. He has a strong tendency to correct everything that people around him say. Show Outline Prone to socially questionable romantic gestures, Ted steals a blue French horn (nicknamed "The Smurf Penis") that was a topic of conversation on his first date with Robin. In a similar vein, he also dresses up as a "hanging chad" every year for Halloween, in the hopes of meeting the , a woman dressed as a jack-o'-lantern (complete with strategically placed holes) whom he once met at a Halloween party. For a time, he dates a baker named Victoria, whom he met at a friend's wedding. She accepts a culinary fellowship in Germany, prompting a long-distance relationship, which does not last, due in large part to his persistent feelings for Robin. His friendship with Robin is threatened when he implies that Victoria broke up with him before she actually did, leading to their making out. He and Robin ultimately reconcile, and shortly after that, Ted makes one last attempt to win her, hiring a chamber orchestra with blue instruments to play in her apartment while he makes his appeal. She cannot give him a definite answer, but, after she is stuck at her apartment due to an unpredicted storm (that Ted had danced for), she decides to pursue her feelings for him upon his return to her. After nearly a year together, they break up, and Ted no longer sees Robin as "The One," but doesn't reveal the identity of his future wife. Robin, however, does act as an "Aunt" figure of sorts to his future children. It is revealed in that at a St. Patrick's Day party he and Barney attended, his future wife was also present and he inadvertently met her there. Once he returns to the room of the party the morning after, he picks up a yellow umbrella which can be seen blowing in the wind in the season promo. Also, he becomes the second main character to actually own a car (a blue Toyota Camry Hybrid) after getting a raise at his job in . By the end of the episode, Ted decides to get rid of the car to help Marshall with his income trouble. In , Ted tells Barney that he no longer wants to be friends after Barney breaks the 'bro code' by sleeping with Robin. The two eventually reconcile in , after both were in accidents (Ted in a taxi crash, Barney being run over by a bus on the way to visit Ted in the hospital). At the end of season 3, it is also revealed that by Ted's 31st birthday, Robin will be living in the apartment. At the beginning of the third season, Ted, while drunk, gets a butterfly tattoo on his lower back (his "tramp stamp"). He goes to see a doctor in order to have it removed, and goes on a date with the doctor in . In , they reveal Stella as the doctor, and after the tattoo is removed, Ted takes her on a two-minute date. They begin dating, and at the end of Ted proposes to Stella. She says yes at the beginning of the fourth season. Ted invites Stella's ex-boyfriend Tony (the father of her daughter) to his wedding, which unbeknownst to him, causes Stella and her ex's feelings to reemerge for each other, resulting in Stella leaving Ted at the altar. Ted's life continues to see a negative turn during the fourth season. After being left at the altar, Ted has trouble rebounding back into a romantic setting, and his job becomes a source of trouble as well. After being hired to design a project for Goliath National Bank, he is fired after weeks of unsuccessful work by Bilson. He attempts to remedy this by starting his own firm, Mosbius Designs, but continues to be unable to get a client. It is revealed in the season four finale , that Ted ultimately accepts a job as an architecture professor, a job offered to him by Stella's boyfriend Tony as a peace offering. He also reveals that the mother of his children is in that classroom. However, in the next episode, it is revealed that Ted was in the wrong classroom on his first day, and that he was standing in front of a group of Economics students. After starting on his job as Professor of Architecture at the University of Columbia at the beginning of Season 5, Ted meets, and briefly dates, an economics student named Cindy. They break up after Cindy realizes Ted and her roommate have a lot in common, despite the two having never met. Her roommate is revealed by Future Ted to be the titular Mother. She hasn't been shown on-screen except for a glimpse Ted gets of her ankles on his way out of Cindy's apartment. Over the course of the season, Ted bonds with his students deeper until they come to regard him as a true mentor. Ted's mother and her boyfriend announce to Ted that they're getting married, and subsequently do so. During the ceremony, Ted realizes his mother has gotten married twice while he's only gotten as far as the altar. He then goes off the grid for three days, with none of his friends being able to reach him. He finally calls them over to a property he just bought; his future home, which he slowly renovates from a dilapidated mess into a liveable homestead. The group discovers Ted's doppelganger, a Mexican wrestler, later in the season. Ted is later approached by Goliath National Bank to resume designing their new headquarters after they secured a location: The Arcadian, an old hotel which they intend to demolish and build Ted's design upon. Whilst looking at the old building, Ted meets Zoey, an activist who runs a movement opposing The Arcadian's destruction. Ted pretends to support her movement but when she finds out the building is being cleared to make way for his design, a tense rivalry begins between them. Ted later meets Zoey again at a banquet hosted by her husband, 'The Captain', and they begin to bond. After a while, Zoey becomes friends with the rest of the group and Ted realizes he has feelings for her. He tries to suppress this as she is a married woman, until it eventually comes to light that not only does Zoey love Ted too, but she is divorcing The Captain, and so they begin an unsteady relationship as they are constantly arguing about various topics, including Zoey's beloved Arcadian. Ted is forced to decide between pursuing his dream of building a New York skyscraper and keeping Zoey - he chooses the former, and the building is destroyed. Zoey and Ted break up immediately afterwards. In the beginning of Season 7, Ted runs into Victoria at the Architects Ball. Ted makes a long-awaited apology for cheating on her, which Victoria accepts though she is no longer angry. She is surprised to learn that Ted does not find it strange that he, Robin, and Barney hang out every night, despite the fact that both Ted and Barney dated and broke up with Robin. Ted reveals he deeply regretted cheating on her and they had loved one another; they end up sharing a kiss. Despite the kiss, Victoria realizes she wants to be with her boyfriend, Klaus, and leaves to meet him for a trip in the Hamptons. At Halloween, Ted meets Naomi, the girl who wore the Slutty Pumpkin costume and who has also been searching for Ted; they begin dating. Ted immediately realizes he doesn't love her at all, but can't bring himself to end the relationship so easily after finally finding the slutty pumpkin girl. When Ted decides that he needs to break up with Naomi, he's stunned to see she's wearing the slutty pumpkin costume and says that he loves her. They arrive at the Halloween party on the roof wearing the costumes they wore when they first met. Naomi confesses that she found their relationship as awkward as Ted did, but also didn't want to end it after waiting so long to meet him and that she tried to force him to break up with her by acting strangely. They break up amicably. When Robin breaks up with Kevin, Ted tells Robin that he really loves her. He says that they broke up in the first place because they had different views of where they saw themselves in five years. It's five years later and they are standing on the roof where they kissed each other for the first time. Robin tells him that she does not want to mess up their friendship. She then asks if they still have their "forty-deal", but Ted says that he can't do that as he doesn't want to leave any hope of them ending up together. He asks her if she loves him and she says no. Marshall then goes to Robin, and tells her that she has to move out, which she does. Later, Ted gives the apartment to Marshall and Lily which they gladly accept, being bored of their life in the suburbs. When Ted, Marshall and Barney embark on another "trilogy time", Ted thinks that there is something wrong with him, as he still hasn't settled down with someone. But Marshall comforts Ted, saying that he has a good feeling about Ted's life in 2015. In a flash forward to 2015, Marshall and Barney set up for another "trilogy time". Though Barney complains that Ted is breaking their tradition by bringing a girl, he and Marshall make an exception because Ted really loves the girl, who is revealed to be his infant daughter. After the birth of Lily and Marshall's baby, Ted talks to Robin about how he wants a family. She encourages him to go after the one who got away, Victoria. He gives her a call and invites her to MacLaren's. When she arrives, she is in a wedding dress. Victoria tells him that today is her wedding with Klaus, but she has always had Ted in the back of her mind. After deliberating with the gang, he takes her into the car, seemingly to drive off into the sunset with her. However, he tells her "I was left at the altar and it almost killed me. You're someone's fiance, and I have to respect that", and says he's going to drive her back to the church. Once he gets near the church, he sees flashbacks of Victoria, and drives past the church, where Ted and Victoria hold hands and drive off into the sunset. Future Ted Future Ted is the one narrating the entire series and telling the main plot to his kids of how he met their mother. The kids just want to know when he did meet their mother but Ted keeps telling them that "it's a long story". So far the kids only know that Victoria, Karen, Natalie, Blah Blah, Amanda, Trudy, Robin, Stella, Cindy and Zoey are not the mother and the real mother has yet to be revealed, although it seems to be getting close. Their future mom is revealed to be a college student learning economics. Future Ted is voiced by Bob Saget. Relationships Friendships Marshall Eriksen Ted and Marshall met at Wesleyan University, where they were roommates. After they graduated from Wesleyan, they rented an apartment together in New York. They lived together till 2008, when Marshall and Lily bought an apartment together. Ted repeatedly says that Marshall is his best friend in front Barney which annoys him, because he sees himself as Ted's best friend. Ted was the best man at Marshall's wedding, alongside Barney. Barney Stinson Barney and Ted are good friends. Although Marshall is Ted's best friend Barney calls Ted his best friend. After Barney slept with Robin, they stop being friends until both are in an accident. Ted calls Barney his brother. Ted often goes to Barney when he's single instead of Marshall due to Marshall being married. Ted is the best man at Barney's wedding. Lily Aldrin Lily and Ted are good friends and met in college. Lily is married to Marshall, Ted's best friend. Lily often does things to sabotage Ted's relationships because she sees her and Marshall growing old with Ted and his future wife. Although they are friends, Ted took Marshall's side and held a grudge against Lily, calling her names after she leaves Marshall to go to San Francisco. Punchy Punchy was Ted's best friend in high school. Ted experiences associative regression when he's around Punchy, and the two end up hitting each other with fists during their brief conversations. Ted is the best man at Punchy's wedding. Romantic Interests Karen Ted's on-again-off-again girlfriend from high school and college who he briefly returns to dating in Season 4. Natalie Ted had dated Natalie three years before time of the episode and had broken up with her on her birthday, through a phone call. In Ted feels nostalgic about her and tries to asks her out again. She rejects him twice, showing that she is still hurt after all these year, but he finally gets her to agree for a cup of coffee. The two sleep together and start dating again thereafter. After three weeks of dating Ted realizes that she is not the one, and decides to break up with her. On their date, he learns that it is her birthday and he breaks up with her anyways. She takes it really hard and beats him up. Victoria Ted met Victoria at Stuart and Claudia's wedding. She didn't tell him her full name or give him any significant details about her, since she didn't hook up with any guys on wedding. However, Ted found her and they started dating. They date for a few months before she accepts a culinary fellowship overseas, and after trying long-distance for a while, they break up because Ted cheated on her with Robin. Ted next meets her six years later, where she tells him that she is getting married and that Robin, his ex, is a bigger part of his world than he realizes and that she is the main reason Ted's earlier relationships have failed. Ted later calls her, and she runs away from her wedding to meet him, and they start dating again. Five months after them getting back together, Ted proposes to Victoria, but she tells him that for her to accept the proposal, he has to stop being friends with Robin as she is afraid that his feeling for her may rekindle in the future. Ted deliberates and tells her that Robin is like family to him and he can't end his friendship with her, resulting in Victoria breaking up with him. Robin Scherbatsky Ted meets her in the pilot episode and takes her out on a date, but after telling her he loves her on the first date, she ends it. They begin dating again at the end of Season 1. They dated for a year but break up when they realize that they want different things. After that, things become awkward for them, but they soon revived their friendship and even became roommates. After Robin's break up with Don at the end of Season 5, Robin and Ted almost kiss after. Later in , Ted tells her that he loves her, but she tells him that she doesn't reciprocate. Ted stops being friends with her, but they later make up when Marvin W. Eriksen is born. Stella Zinman Stella was Ted's dermatologist who removed Ted's butterfly tattoo during Season 3. After taking her on a two-minute date, they start dating. He proposes to her at the end of Season 3 but they season ends without the viewers hearing her response. At the beginning of Season 4, she tells Ted she will marry him. However, she leaves Ted at the altar and runs off with her ex-boyfriend and the father of Lucy, Tony Grafanello. Zoey Pierson Zoey and Ted started of as enemies because she was against the tearing down of The Arcadian, but they later became friends. After sometimes Ted realizes that he loves her, but she was married at the time, so he told her that he can't be friends with her anymore. Marshall finds out that Zoey and her husband are getting a divorce because she also loves Ted, and he brings them together. Although, the motives about The Arcadian are opposite to each other, they don't talk about it and continue to date. Zoey later reveals to Ted that she doesn't want The Arcadian to be demolished since she lived there when she was little girl. However ,Ted eventually chooses his career over her when he lets The Arcadian to be demolished and they break up. A few weeks later, he bumps into her and she tells him that she wants to get back together with him. They decide to meet at the restaurant where they had there first date, but Ted is stopped by Barney and Robin, before he can see her again. Family ) }} Notes and Trivia *In , it is revealed that Ted was probably raised Catholic, as Barney tried to soften up to his mother by taking her to mass at Saint Peter's. *In , it is shown that when Ted is nervous, he peels off the label on beer bottles, similar to how Lily peels off the label when she has done something bad. * In Ted is shown to have a "naked lady noise", which he uses every time he sees a naked lady (proven by Robin). This could be in either reality or in his imagination. *In it is revealed that in his whole life, Ted has only been in one fight, with one of the bartenders at MacLaren's, Doug Martin. Ted was beaten up by Natalie in , but since that was one-sided, so maybe he didn't count that as a fight. *Ted can communicate with sign language, as shown when he first "helps" Barney to get a phone number from a girl (actually, he tricked Barney, since what he really told the girl was to give Barney a fake number), as shown in . This talent appeared again in . *He also speaks French as he and Stella spend an entire session in speaking it. Presumably he can also speak Italian as he recites a passage from Dante in Italian in . *He does not speak Spanish. Or at least he doesn't speak it very well. *He wears his grandmother’s watch. ( ) *In , he was colorblind for a week because he drank a whole case of Tantrum with Marshall on a trip to Gazola's. *In , he dyed his hair blonde. *He thinks his old room became a sex temple as mentioned in *He maybe has a collection of Jedi Knights when he was a kid, mentioned in . *It has been shown on a few occasions that Ted has trouble remembering names, for example, forgetting the name of Mark in , and forgetting the real names of Blah Blah and Honey, when telling his kids a story about them. *In , it is revealed that Ted can play the piano. He plays while Victoria is pretending to tap dance and also again in , where he plays The Puzzles Song. *Barney has a play named after Ted called "The Ted Mosby." which involves him pretending to be left at the altar (to get a girl). *Ted is a similar to from . They are both geeks, a professor, and dated a student. References External Links * * de:Ted Mosby es:Ted Mosby pt:Ted Mosby Category:Characters Category:The gang Category:Guys who dated Robin Category:Goliath National Bank Category:Who is the Mother? Category:Wesleyan University